It is "not clear" whether the government's pledge to recruit 6,500 extra teachers in England by the end of this Parliament will address the issue of staff shortages, as there is currently no clear "delivery plan" in place, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. Published today, the report suggests that a projected increase in secondary schools’ pupil numbers is likely to outpace Labour’s recruitment ambitions. Separately, the Department for Education (DfE) has acknowledged that delivering the pledge will be a "significant challenge". Commenting on the report, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: "The DfE assesses that meeting the government’s pledge for 6,500 more teachers will be very challenging. Even if met, it is not clear that this will be enough to fix the nationwide shortage of teachers amidst growing numbers of students." By Eleanor Harding, Daily Mail. Also covered by Sally Weale for The Guardian. 

St George's Preparatory School in Lincolnshire has announced it will close at the end of the academic year, citing "financial burdens" imposed by the government, which include the VAT on fees policy and the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions. The school's founder and principal, Sarah Whelan, said: "Our dedicated staff, wonderful pupils and supportive families have made this a truly special community. We are heartbroken that financial realities beyond our control have forced this outcome." By Jamie Waller, BBC News.

Ministers have reduced their teacher recruitment targets by almost 20 per cent, as applicants to join the profession have gone up this year across most subjects, the Department for Education (DfE) has revealed. In an update yesterday, the DfE said it is cutting its target for recruiting postgraduates to initial teacher training courses next year by 19 per cent. This is due to "rapidly falling" pupil numbers, as well as "more favourable forecasts" for teacher retention. By Lydia Chantler-Hicks, Schools Week. 

School leaders are in the midst of a mental health crisis, with most reporting a negative impact on their wellbeing over the past year—and some even resigning from their roles—according to a new poll by the school leaders' union NAHT. The survey has also highlighted a troubling drop in interest in headship, with only one in five senior leaders now aspiring to the position. Calling for action to tackle the issue, NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said "real ambition" was needed in critical areas such as pay, funding, inspection systems, and workload reduction. The findings come ahead of the NAHT's annual conference in Harrogate this weekend. By Eleanor Busby, The Independent.

MPs on the Parliamentary Education Committee have heard that funding cuts to integrated care boards (ICBs), which plan local NHS services, are making it harder for departments to work together effectively to support special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. Giving evidence to the committee were professionals from speech and language therapy, educational psychology, and both local and national health bodies. Highlighting the need for greater collaboration, Alison Stewart, head of SEND at the South West London Integrated Care Board, said: "I think sometimes we’re driven into a position that we are splitting education and health, rather than looking at a proper needs-based approach to children offering the right support at the right time." Schools Week summarises seven key findings from the hearing. By Freddie Whittaker. 

The recorder has fallen out of favour among young musicians, according to the findings of a survey by ABRSM, with schools increasingly using the ukulele or guitar for class music lessons instead. The music exam board's survey has revealed that the number of children playing the recorder has almost halved in a decade, from 28 per cent in 2014 to 16 per cent today, with experts saying that the decline is part of a wider problem of pupils not spending enough time playing music, despite the benefits. The survey of 1,000 children, 1,000 adults and 2,000 music teachers also suggests the sharpest drop in pupils learning music happens at the ages of 12 and 15. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times. 

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